


Lost Hearts

by Silence_Will_Fall201



Series: World Undead [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Based on The Walking Dead, F/M, Future Fic, Hunters, LIKE ALL THE TIME, Lydia is a really calming person, Prequel, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Scott can be an idiot, Stiles Stilinski Is Bad at Feelings, Stiles Stilinski Needs a Hug, Stiles Stilinski is a Little Shit, Stiles Stilinski-centric, Stiles is angry, Zombies aren't the focus in this one, anyway this a direct prequel to an upcoming multi-chaptered fic, because the people are the real threat in the zombie apocalypse, but Stiles doesn't think so, but anyway Stiles is the main character so take it how you will, but he's actually kinda smart in this one, like there's maybe two that show up, so get ready, this is honestly really angst, this is primarily about people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silence_Will_Fall201/pseuds/Silence_Will_Fall201
Summary: Faced with an unlikely threat, the Beacon Hills community joins forces with Eden.--Read prior stories in the series to understand.
Relationships: Cora Hale & Scott McCall, Cora Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale & Sheriff Stilinski, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale/Original Female Character(s), Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Scott McCall & Malia Tate, Scott McCall & Sheriff Stilinski, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall/Malia Tate, Sheriff Stilinski & Stiles Stilinski
Series: World Undead [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1458919
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Lost Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME! I'm back from the dead. So if you've been reading the series you've probably wondered why I haven't updated for months, well I'll just say that in addition to lockdowns a lot of really awful shit happened in my own life while I still had to keep going with university, so I've been busy but also trying to take care of my mental health. I'm on holidays now though, so I thought I'd treat you to a 7,500 word one shot (yeah, cuz I can't do short ones).

Cora ran, her eyes glowing the blue she found herself wearing after one too many mercy kills. The fire burned all around her and the undead shuffled their way forward in a mass of hundreds. Eden had fallen, and she was one of the last ones left. She ran alongside her pack members and those she’d come to know in the community. A mother and a small child, an alpha and his second, a lone teenager whose parents had fallen in the early days, and many more who fled.

“Where do we go?” Cora’s alpha Harrison yelled as they ran.

“My brother’s community, it’s safe,” she yelled back.

“For now,” Harrison’s second, Dalton said with a frown. Cora growled and Dalton growled back, his eyes flashing blue.

“Hurry up, don’t fight,” Harrison flashed his red eyes at Dalton who shifted his eyes back to his usual brown, “where is this community?”

“Up north, my home town, Beacon Hills,” Cora told him and Harrison nodded.

“Lead us,” Harrison held a hand over Dalton’s shoulder and gave him a warning growl, “be nice,” Dalton huffed but said nothing more.

“Everyone follow me!” Cora yelled for the humans, then she howled for those that weren’t.

Eden was supposed to stay standing for years to come. It was a refuge for humans and supernatural alike. It was run by Harrison and Dalton, along with an old Druid woman named Mercy, who unfortunately was killed when the dead pushed down their walls. Eden was a place of happiness and peace, and for humans and supernatural to coexist peacefully. They weren’t without their faults, or the few people who did not belong, but for the most part, Eden was exactly what Cora needed. Now, she was leaving that as it went up in flames, to go back to her home town with her family.

* * *

It was the middle of the night in Beacon Hills when the guards at the gate started yelling. Scott woke up with a start, as did Malia and they heard both Allison and Mitchell rouse from down the hallway of their house. Scott put his hand on Malia’s arm and shook his head, telling her that he would handle it. Malia nodded and got up, making her way down to her children. Scott quickly pulled on a shirt and shoes, and ran out the front door. The gates were opening as he and a crowd of people, including Stiles, Lydia and Noah, gathered around the area. Scott glanced over to Stiles, who had his hand protectively clasped around a gun at his side, and his body placed slightly in front of Lydia’s.

“Let them in!” One of the guards shouted, and Scott vaguely registered Derek’s voice - it was his shift. Scott pushed past the crowd so he could see what was happening. Stepping through the gates was Cora, her pack and what seemed to be a portion of Eden’s people. Emma was no-where to be seen.

“Cora?” Scott rushed to her side, noticing how exhausted she looked - even werewolves could get tired, “what happened?” Scott asked.

“It’s gone,” she muttered, “Eden is dead,”

“Is this everyone?” Scott looked around at the group of maybe one hundred and fifty people - Eden had _hundreds_ before its fall.

“It’s all of the survivors we could gather, there may still be more out there,” Cora’s alpha, Harrison, spoke up, “Cora said this place is safe. We thought Eden was too,”

“It’s safe,” Scott told him with a flash of his own red eyes, getting a responsive flash from Harrison, “you’re all welcome to stay here, we’ve got some room but you’ll need to bunk up. We’ve still got some parts of the town to open up,”

“I’m staying with family, if they’ll have me,” Cora said, “It’s been ages since I’ve seen Derek, and even Peter,”

“You’ve got a niece now,” Stiles walked forward with a smile, his hand over his gun abandoned, “and Scott’s shacking up with your cousin, he and Malia have two kids,” Cora grinned and engulfed Stiles in a hug. They knew each other briefly, but had some weird quick connection that even Scott couldn’t figure out.

“I heard you were back but it’s been ages since I’ve meant to come and see for myself,” Cora smiled, “how’re you doing?” She asked.

“Better than I was,” Stiles said.

“What’s this I hear about a niece? And some new little cousins?” Cora turned to Scott and glanced at Derek who’d come down from his post to greet his sister.

“My daughter, Talia,” Derek said and he pulled Cora in for a hug, “you’re welcome to stay with Rachael and I,”

“I can’t wait to meet her. How old?” Cora asked.

“She’s two,” Derek said with the easiest smile he’d worn since Talia was born.

“Malia and I have two kids, our oldest is Allison, youngest is Mitchell,” Scott said, “we’ll need to talk with you and your alpha in the morning, get a brief about what happened to Eden,”

“Of course,” Cora nodded, “I’ll help in anyway I can,”

“Get some rest, you look like you need it,” Scott gave Cora a comforting pat on the shoulder before he headed off in the direction of his house.

“Come on, I’ll get you settled,” Derek said, slowly leading Cora towards the loft.

* * *

The next morning, Scott, Noah, Derek and Stiles met with Cora, Harrison and Dalton in the top of the library. There was a large table sitting in the middle of the room and they all found a place to sit. Scott wanted to find out what happened to Eden, because the neighbouring community was one of the largest they knew of, and as a result it impacted a lot of people.

“It was set alight,” Harrison said, “we had conflict with a group in the area, a small pack of Mexican wolves who crossed the border when the world fell,”

“They weren’t as small as we thought,” Cora added with a sigh, “and they weren’t all wolves,”

“What do you mean?” Stiles asked and Dalton shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“They were a whole community, a large one - much larger than ours, and they were made up of all types of supernatural, hunters, humans, you name it,” Dalton explained quickly, “they weren’t run by wolves, they were run by the hunters who had an alpha wolf and her pack as pets,” Scott frowned.

“What were these hunters names?” Scott asked.

“We don’t know,” Cora sighed, “our dealings with the pack were small, we had a few territory disputes and fights - Dalton killed one of them when he tried to enter Eden at night - but we never thought they were more than seven wolves,”

“Next thing we know, we’ve got hunters on our doorstep backed by the wolves,” Harrison added, “they wanted Dalton’s head for the death of their wolf, but they also wanted the territory,”

“Clearly we didn’t give it to them,” Cora leant back in her chair and sighed, “two nights later there’s a fire in the storage shed which quickly spread through the community. I heard them die…” she trailed off and Derek put his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

“Would these hunters have knowledge of Beacon Hills?” Noah asked and the rest of the Beacon Hills group leant forward, suddenly more attentive.

“We don’t know,” Dalton sighed, “but we have to assume so, their wolves were sneaking around for months before we knew of the hunters,”

“Shit,” Stiles cursed, “how much of a problem are we expecting?”

“Best case?” Cora began with a sigh, “the same fate as Eden, at least some of us got out,”

“And the worst case scenario?” Noah asked even though he probably didn’t want to know the answer.

“You’re in a full on fight with at least five hundred wolves, hunters and assorted supernaturals,” Harrison answered with a grim expression, “we don’t know exactly how many there are, but there are hundreds,”

“How did they get that many people?” Stiles asked with furrowed brows, “we’ve only got maybe two hundred here before you guys showed up, and even then it took Eden six years to get to around four hundred,”

“My guess is they were ready for the end of the world,” Harrison sighed, “one of those places where people were locked behind walls from the beginning,”

“Even Beacon Hills is one of those places,” Derek pointed out, “that’s still a lot of people,”

“A shit ton,” Stiles grumbled, “did you see there community?” Dalton nodded.

“I did with a few scouts,” he said, “it was like a whole city had been walled in. Imagine it, Beacon Hills is a small town, this was like the whole of Tucson,”

“Was it Tucson?” Scott asked with raised eyebrows.

“I mean, yeah I guess,” Dalton shrugged, “it was at least close enough to it, but it was huge,”

“How did we not come across it?” Stiles looked to Scott.

“We never sent scouts and scavengers out that far,” Noah answered for Scott. Stiles guessed it made sense, Beacon Hills was on the North Side of California, while Tucson was right near the border to Mexico, with Eden being situated in the reservation north of it.

“Well maybe we should start,” Stiles frowned, “what else can you tell us about them?”

“The wolves are quite literally the pets of the hunters, it’s the weirdest thing I’ve seen,” Cora said, “they’ll do anything the hunters ask of them, and they won’t even speak or growl in their presence, it’s like they’ve been trained,”  
“This seems like something that isn’t a new development to be honest,” Stiles sighed, “breaking a wolf takes a while, and training them takes even longer. I’m willing to bet that these wolves were pets of the hunters long before the world ended,”

“That’s just great…” Scott grunted, “so we should prepare for a fight?”

“Yeah,” Cora nodded. Stiles turned to both his father and Scott.  
“Where’s Emma,” Stiles asked, the question been itching away at his mind since she returned.

“We don’t know,” Cora said with a frown, “she was out scavenging for a day before the fires. We don’t know if she made it back or not,”

“Do you think she’ll come here if she sees that Eden’s gone?” Stiles asked, sitting up straighter.

“Maybe,” Harrison answered for Cora, “she’s a strong woman,”

“Yeah,” Stiles nodded. He then looked to Scott and his dad, “I’m going to go talk to Malakai about the hunters and their wolves, you two should prepare the town,” Stiles said.

“It’s not certain that anything will happen,” Scott furrowed his brows, “we can keep it to ourselves for a little while longer,” Stiles raised an eyebrow.

“Let them know, let them prepare. This town isn’t as defenceless as it once was,” Stiles told him.

* * *

Outside the walls of Beacon Hills seemed to just be forest land. The trees were tall and swayed in the breeze, the leaves falling as they did so. The ground was coarse and rough with dirt, rocks and assorted shrubbery and in general it seemed like the dense forest covered the existence of the community well. It seemed the walls were the only defences that the town had, but that sentiment was wrong.

Stiles gave a quick wave to Damien as he opened the gate for him to step through. Stiles had one hand on his gun and the other on his jacket, adjusting it in the wind. Stiles walked down the dirt road leading out of Beacon Hills, which had become overgrown with shrubbery in the past years. About two miles down the road, Stiles diverged from the road and walked off into the forest. He heard the groaning and shuffling of the undead around him, and he pulled his knife from his boot in preparation. Guns were more for people than the undead if he could help it.

Stiles kept walking, though, and he continued through the forest until he came upon a clearing which held a well-hidden camp. Tents were set up around a campfire, with strings of pots and pans surrounding the area. Stiles put his knife away and gave a wave to man guarding the side he entered from. The man wearing a wolf hide and dirt mixed with blood on his face waved him through. Stiles said nothing but kept walking towards one particular tent. Stiles knocked on the wooden post holding it before stepping inside.

“Stiles! What a surprise!” Malakai greeted him with a grin and Stiles returned him with a broad smile. The two had become allies, and even friends. Malakai understood the side of Stiles that loved it outside the walls, and Stiles didn’t judge the man for his choices in leading his pack of human wolves.

“Wish it was on better news, Malakai,” Stiles said, dropping his smile with a sigh, “We’ve got to talk,”

“Of course,” Malakai nodded, “come, wall with me,” Stiles followed Malakai out of his tent and the two started walking around the camp.

After Stiles brought them to Beacon Hills, Malakai’s pack of human wolves divided. Some decided to abandon their animalistic ways and re-integrate into a community, while others did not like to be confined by walls. Malakai and Stiles had an idea which mutually benefited each community. Malakai’s pack would set up shop just down the road from Beacon Hills, far enough away for them to be left alone, but close enough so that they could act as a first line of defence to the town if it came to it. Scott and Noah agreed and Malakai promised protection on the borders of the community, having his people out at almost all hours.

“Eden has fallen,” Stiles began, Malakai sucked in a sharp breath, “the community was destroyed, many of their citizens kills, others are missing,”

“How so?” Malakai asked.

“There’s a community out there, a large one, and they’re lead by hunters,” Stiles stopped and Malakai rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “they have wolves as pets,”

“How large are we talking?” Malakai asked.

“The size of a city,” Stiles told him with furrowed brows, “one of Eden’s wolves scouted it, he said it was like the whole of Tucson had been walled in,”

“That big?” Malakai’s eyes widened, “do you think they’re on their way here?”

“We’re not sure but we can’t rule it out,” Stiles sighed, “the people from Eden said the hunters’ wolves were poking around for a while before the hunters themselves made themselves known, and the people there knew of Beacon Hills and talked about it. We have to assume they know that this place exists, and if they have a map they can find it easy,”

“Is there a plan?” Malakai asked, “if they come?”

“Not yet, we just got the information this morning,” Stiles said, “If we’re lucky the hunters won’t bother coming, we’re a bit far away from Tucson,”

“I suppose, but we can’t rule anything out,” Malakai frowned and Stiles nodded.

“Exactly,” he sighed, “I came to inform you personally, but if we get more information we’ll need to delegate between out communities, figure out a cohesive plan that includes all of us. Eden’s scouts said there were hundreds of people in that community, maybe more. We have a couple hundred now in Beacon Hills with Eden’s people but we’ll need all the help we can get,”

“I pledge my allegiance,” Malakai nodded his head, “we’ll help where we can, and whenever we can,”

“Thank you,” Stiles put his hand out for Malakai to shake, and the Alpha human did, “we’ll keep you in the loop,”

“Of course,” Malakai nodded.

* * *

Stiles returned to Beacon Hills around an hour later, and immediately walked over to Tanvi and Josh’s house. In the past year the two finally came around, and Tanvi and Josh became a bit of thing, as everyone expected. They had no label, because labels didn’t matter when things like Instagram didn’t exist anymore, so they just let it develop on their own. As the last two original members of their group, Stiles thought they should know about Emma’s uncertain fate.

“Hey!” Tanvi grinned as she spotted Stiles walking up the stairs to the porch of her house. She had a basket under one arm full of freshly picked vegetables, she’d just come from the garden, “what are you doing here?”

“Uh, can I come inside?” Stiles asked, vaguely gesturing to the house, “and is Josh home?”

“Yeah, he should be inside,” Tanvi furrowed her brows, “come on in,” she opened the door and made her way to the kitchen to deposit the vegetables. Stiles lingered in the hallway and gave Josh a tight smile as the other man stepped into the hallway from the living room.

“What’s up?” Josh asked as Tanvi joined him.

“Can we sit down?”

“Bad news always starts with that,” Tanvi grumbled as the three made their way to the dining table to sit down, “tell it straight, no sugar coating,” she stated firmly when they’d all sat.

“Okay,” Stiles took in a deep breath, “I take it you know about what happened at Eden,”

“Well yeah, they all came through the gates yesterday,” Josh rolled his eyes, “what’s this about?”

“Were you aware that Emma went there?” Stiles asked and Tanvi’s eyes widened as she shook her head slightly. Josh frowned and did the same.

“No,” Tanvi said after a pause, “she’s not here,” she muttered after a moment.

“No, she isn’t,” Stiles sighed, “Cora doesn’t know of her whereabouts, neither do Harrison or Dalton or any of the residents Scott asked,” there was silence from both Tanvi and Josh, as they were processing the information of their friend’s disappearance, “a lot of people from Eden are missing,” Stiles added, hoping to add some reassurance, “and Emma was sent out scavenging before the fire, they don’t know if she got back in time or if she’s still out there,”

“Are we going to send people to look for her?” Josh asked and Stiles shook his head slightly.

“We can’t afford to right now, the people that burnt Eden are a very real threat out there, and we don’t want to alert them to our presence if they don’t know already. We can’t take the risk,” Stiles said, “i’m sorry,”

“It’s okay, it’s for Beacon Hills right?” Tanvi’s voice shook slightly as a stray tear rolled down one cheek, “God, I hope she’s okay,”

“Yeah, me too,” Stiles sighed and stood, “i’ll leave you guys to it, I guess,” he muttered and went to the hallway to make his way out.

“Stiles!” Josh called after him and Stiles stopped, turning to face his friend, “If anything happens…anything at all, I want to be a part of it,” Josh told him quietly. Stiles searched his face for a moment, realising that Josh was asking to be a part of the fight against whatever was inevitably coming. Stiles said nothing but gave Josh a curt nod before leaving.

* * *

Stiles let out a frustrated sigh as he slumped on the bed in his and Lydia’s house that night. Lydia stepped out of the ensuite with a slight sad smile on her face. She had a dressing gown wrapped around her body and her hair was in loosely messy waves pulled to one side of her shoulders. Stiles looked at her and smiled, it never got old. He still felt like a hormonal teenage boy when he looked at her, like every time was the first time, but he supposed part of that was simply being in love.

“You okay?” Lydia asked as she sat next to him, “rough day?”

“You could say that,” Stiles chuckled without humour, “Malakai’s on board with anything we decide to do,”

“That’s good,” Lydia nodded, “How were Tanvi and Josh?”

“Shocked,” Stiles said simply, “they didn’t even know that Emma left to go to Eden,”

“Really?” Lydia raised her eyebrows, “I would’ve thought Emma would’ve told them,”

“To be fair all she really did was leave a note,” Stiles said with a sigh, “What are your impressions of what we’re going to face?”

“What do you mean?” Lydia asked.

“Do you have any…” he trailed off and made an odd gesture around his head before opening his mouth and making the commonly associated gesture for vomiting. Lydia rolled her eyes and laughed but shook her head.

“No, I haven’t had any need to scream, Stiles,” she smiled slightly, “and I definitely don’t need to vomit,” Stiles furrowed his brows and laughed.

“Sorry, just curious,” he shrugged.

“Don’t worry, nobody’s going to die for a few days at least,” Lydia smirked and Stiles dropped his smile.

“Gee, _thanks_ ,” Stiles glowered.

* * *

Cora tossed and turned in the sleeping bag she was given. Her eyes fluttered in her sleep and her breathing was short and ragged. She shivered as if she was cold her her body was curled into the foetal position. Her mind was racing with images of fire. The burning of Eden bringing back memories of the fire which killed most of her family. She heard all of them die all over again, all of the family in her house when she was just a kid - when she had snuck out only to come back to the house up in flames with a mountain ash circle around it and a group of hunters watching with glee. She heard the people in Eden die, heard their hearts race and then stop, heard them scream as their flesh burned, heard the wolves scream as their bodies tried to heal through the continued trauma.

Cora was woken by hands on her shoulders and she leapt up with a growl, her eyes glowing blue her face fully shifted and her claws in the shoulder of the person who woke her up. Cora blinked a few times and retracted her claws with a gasp as she came back to reality. She almost fell back in exhaustion but looked to who had woken her up instead. It wasn’t Harrison or Dalton as a large group of them were sharing the same house until Beacon Hills got more room, instead it was a man about her age with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes blown so wide.

“Oh my God,” Cora muttered, looking to the claw wound on his shoulder, “i’m so sorry,”

“Don’t worry about it,” he muttered, waving it off. It was then that Cora saw his skin knitting itself together, “i’m a wolf too,” he shrugged and Cora deflated with relief.

“Never wake a werewolf having a nightmare,” she warned, “it’s dangerous,”

“I know,” he muttered, “good thing I like dangerous,” he grinned as Cora glared at him.

“You did not just try to flirt with me after I stuck my claws into your shoulder,” Cora said rather flatly.

“Eh, it was worth a shot,” he chuckled and Cora frowned. He reminded her a lot of how Stiles used to be. How Derek used to be, even. Before trauma fucked them both over.

“What’s your name?” She asked with a huff, folding her arms.

“Alex,” he told her.

“How long were you at Eden?” She asked and Alex shrugged.

“Since the early days, I kept to myself a lot though,” he told her and she narrowed her eyes, “my mom was Sadie Coleman,” he said and her expression of suspicion turned to one of sorrow.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. Sadie Coleman was one of the first residents in Eden, and a well respected werewolf. Cora vaguely remembered how much she’d talk about her husband and son before a scavenging group found her son. She died in the fire, “she was a lovely woman,” Alex smiled sadly and nodded.

“She was the best,” he said, “anyway, I just wanted to see if you were okay, you know?” He stated and Cora nodded.

“I’m okay, thank you,” Cora told him with a freer smile.

“If you need to talk, you can talk to me you know? We’ve got some similar trauma’s,” he told her, “also, I think you’re hot as hell and wouldn’t mind getting to know you a little better,”

“Mostly kept to yourself, huh?” Cora deadpanned with another eye roll, “keep trying, hot shot,” she said and he laughed before standing up, winking at her and leaving to go to another room in the house.

* * *

The next morning, tension ran high in the town. The school gymnasium had been converted into a council centre at Noah’s request. Beacon Hills was becoming more civilised, with a group of people sitting on the council who made decisions on behalf of the citizens - Noah, Derek, Chris, Yvonne - an older woman who’d lived in Beacon Hills most of her life - Bethany - a woman in her thirties who was heavily involved in the community work - and Ellen - a woman in her forties who spoke for Malakai’s group, as they were considered a part of Beacon Hills’ community. Scott sat as a substitute, and occasionally a deciding vote if there was ever a tie. In addition to a council, Beacon hills also gained a small but hard-working police station in which Stiles was actively involved in, acting in part as security for the town in addition to helping run the station with his father.

That morning, most of the town, including the residents of Eden, gathered in the gymnasium - most of the school had been converted to other spaces, however part of the school still operated as an actual school. If needed, the school was a safe point of meeting in case a threat ever came to Beacon Hills. A long table sat at the front of the large room, with the entire panel sitting across it, facing out. Noah sat in the middle of the table with Chris and Derek on either side of him, and then Yvonne next to Derek, Ellen next to Chris, and Scott and Bethany sitting on either side of Yvonne and Ellen. Stiles and Lydia sat up front of the crowd, the room being set up with a number of tables and chairs though a large portion of the occupants of the room were standing.

“As you all know we gained a large number of new residents two days ago,” Noah began, calling out loudly to let the whole room hear him, “The community known as Eden has fallen, and a portion of its residents are either deceased or unaccounted for,” a murmur flowed through the room, “Eden was burnt down by a threat we are frankly unprepared for,” Noah told them and the crowd’s chattering worsened. Stiles frowned at his father’s wording but said nothing as Lydia put her hand on his to temper him, “There is a community close to the border, one which is larger than any of us could really know without seeing it,” Noah sighed, “they are run by supernatural hunters, such as Chris’ family once was if you know enough about our history here in Beacon Hills,” Stiles glanced to his right to see Carson walking to the front of the crowd with Aaron on her hip, “and they have werewolves and other supernaturals at their disposal to do their bidding,” Noah sighed and looked over the crowd, “we have reason to believe they know about Beacon Hills,” there was an uproar of worried residents, “we will be ready for them if they come,”

“How?” Someone in the crowd called. Noah looked to the general direction where the question came from.

“In this meeting today we will be voting on an action plan,” Noah stated, looking to Stiles, “we wish to get the input of the citizens, so I will pose an action, and we will have Scott go around and get everyone to cast their own vote. With that information, we at the council will take that into consideration, and delegate with each other,” Noah stated and the crowd quieted down. Scott stood, holding a haphazardly made ballot box as someone walked through the crowd giving them each two sticks, one that had been painted green and the other red. Stiles and Lydia both received their sticks and waited for the action to be announced, “In this case, we have two options. Action one is defence. We stay in Beacon Hills, gather as much force as possible and wait for the threat to come to us. You will vote on this plan using the green stick. The second action is to set traps here in the community as we leave to avoid detection from this threat, preserving everyone’s life. You will vote on this plan using the red stick. Please note, that both actions are subject to changes, however these are the guidelines we have decided on,”

As the ballot box came around, Stiles noted a number of both red and green sticks being put into the box. Stiles himself put a green stick in the box, as did Lydia and he saw Josh and Tanvi doing the same. Stiles glanced at Carson when the box came around to her and saw she placed a red stick in the box. Stiles found Henry in the crowd, accompanied by both Julia and Tyler who both were involved in the vote. Henry and Julia placed a red stick in the box, while Tyler put a green one in. Malia placed a red one in after a moment of hesitation - she had to think of her family - while Peter predictably put a green one in. Once everyone in the room had voted, Scott returned the box to the council table.

“We will break shortly to count the votes,” Chris announced. Stiles stood with Lydia and the two made their way outside where they were found by Carson, Henry, Tyler and Julia.

“Hey,” Stiles greeted, not having really spoken to Henry in a while. They all sort of went their own separate ways after settling down in Beacon Hills, “I saw your votes,” he said, eying Tyler who seemed anxious for a fight. The poor kid grew up too quickly, and the year they were out there really did a number on him.

“I’ve got to think of Aaron,” Carson justified and Stiles nodded, giving her a small smile.

“Of course. For all we know they’ll be shuffling families to safety,” he shrugged.

“Like that worked so well last time,” Carson frowned, remembering Sarge’s siege on Beacon Hills.

“Right…” Stiles grimaced, “whatever it comes to, we’ll make sure everyone is kept safe,”

"You can’t promise that, Stiles,” Henry said, “and I for one know we’ll be safer avoiding this threat,”

“For now,” Lydia said, “what if they continue to track us? Why not get rid of the threat now and continue living,”

“Because some of us won’t,” Carson stated, looking Lydia in the eyes, “Beacon Hills is amazing, really, but I need Aaron to be safer more than I need four walls and clean water,” she told her and Lydia took in a quick breath. It was different for a mother.

“And besides, you heard your dad,” Henry began, “this community is bigger than we could really imagine until we see it, do you really think we could win against them?”

“I don’t know but I’ll damn well try,” Stiles told him with a shrug. He was about to say something else when Scott opened the doors to the gymnasium and called everyone back inside to hear the deciding vote. Once everyone had found their seats inside, Noah stood to announce the vote.

“The people have voted for action one,” Noah said, “with a three point lead,” he added and the crowd started muttering, “the council will now make their vote, with Scott as a deciding vote in case of a tie,” he began, sitting back down and looking to the left side where Yvonne sat.

“My vote is for action two,” she said. Noah nodded and looked to Derek.

“My vote is for action two,” Derek stated, glancing to where Rachael stood with Talia in her arms off to one side of the room. It seemed children was a deciding factor in the votes. Noah glanced to his right at Chris.

“I vote for action one,” Chris said. Noah looked to Ellen.

“My vote is for action one,” Ellen stated.

“I vote for action two,” Bethany said and the crowd looked to Noah for either the deciding vote or to give a draw.

“I vote for action one,” Noah stated and the crowd began rustling again as Scott held the deciding vote. Stiles slumped back in his seat, knowing the answer Scott would give.

“I call action two,” Scott finished.

* * *

“You can’t be serious!” Stiles exclaimed in frustration to Scott after the meeting, “you know that’s not the smart play, right?”

“Isn’t it?” Scott raised an eyebrow, “we’re saving more people,”

“ _For now,_ ” Stiles bristled with anger as he repeated Lydia’s words, “we have no idea how long that will last, and even then shouldn’t we hold down this place? A lot of work has gone into getting Beacon Hills to where it is. I’m not just going to leave now,”

“Why not?” Scott asked with somehow equal amounts of anger, “what about Lydia,”

“Lydia agrees with me,” Stiles crossed his arms and stood firm, “and she can take care of herself,”

“But Allison and Mitch can’t,” Scott countered, “Aaron can’t, Julia and Tyler are just kids, there are _plenty_ of kids here,”

“Then we get someone to take them somewhere safe, we can mix the two plans together,” Stiles furrowed his brows, “we don’t have to stick with one plan,”

“We don’t, but we’re going with action two. We’re leaving,” Scott said, using a hint of his alpha authority, but Stiles was human - he didn’t care.

“The people voted for action one,” Stiles grunted, “i’m not leaving, and I bet I can get a lot of people to stay,”

“There was a three point lead, it was close, and even then do you really think you’ll have enough people to beat an _army_ of hunters _and_ supernatural?” Scott tilted his head in skepticism.

“You’re underestimating them,” Stiles said, “we’ve got plenty of wolves and humans who can defend themselves, this place shouldn’t just be abandoned because people think we’ll lose,”

“There’s a chance we will,” Scott sighed, “we can’t just go rushing into every situation thinking we’ll come out on top, and we can’t just assume we can _kill_ everyone,” he frowned, “just this once, Stiles, listen to me,”

“That’s not taken me very far, Scott, _ever_ ,” Stiles glared and Scott faltered. Stiles knew his words hurt, but Stiles was so adamant that his way was the right way that Scott just ignored it, brushed past his friend and left.

* * *

The next few days were spent packing up what they could. On moving day, Stiles said nothing as he aggressively loaded the saddle bag on his horse. They’d run out of gas for the cars a while back, and decided to take to riding horses around where they could. There was the odd car that still worked, but the majority of travel was by horse. Stiles pulled his shotgun over one shoulder and holstered his pistol. He gave his horse a pat and a carrot before going over to meet with Derek at the gates. Derek was packing a trunk of things into a cart the town carpenter had made with some wood they’d gathered. Rachael was standing by with Talia in her arms.

“Hey,” Stiles sent a wave to Rachael and she smiled.

“You okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, just not happy ‘bout leaving,” Stiles slurred slightly - he wouldn’t admit it but Lydia had to drag him to bed after sitting with too many whiskey bottles around him.

“We’ll find someplace new, someplace where we can build it up like Beacon Hills,” Rachael told him with a sad smile.

“Beacon Hills is something special, no offence,” Stiles let out a sharp chuckle.

“It is,” Derek walked up to them wiping his hands off on his jeans, “but we’ve scouted a place to the north. It should get us by,”

“What is it?” Stiles asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s an old settlement, looks like people moved out so why not move in?” Derek shrugged.

“Moved out or died?” Stiles sighed, “I don’t think we should be leaving,”

“We know,” Derek sighed, “this is more for our families than it is for us. If we could stay, we would, but we can’t and you know it,” Stiles stayed silent until Rhea on the wall called out in panic.

“Incoming!” She yelled.

The whole town ready to move out erupted into chaos. Those who were willing to fight ushered those who weren’t inside. Derek all but pushed Rachael and Talia into the nearest building and Stiles caught sight of Lydia dragging Malia, Mitch and Allison into their home while Scott climbed the ladder up to the post on the wall. Stiles looked around quickly for Noah but sighed in relief when he caught his father locking Carson, Aaron and a number of families in the station with a few of their ‘officers’. Stiles heard horses whinny and neigh from outside the walls and he climbed the ladder behind Scott with Derek trailing behind him. Outside the walls stood a number of men and women on horses or on foot. Those that didn’t have guns, had swords, spears and bows with arrows notched and ready to fire. There was a woman, around to be in her fifties with ash brown hair and a pale complexion sitting high on a tall, pure black horse, flanked by two men around the same age on a palomino and a chestnut horse respectively.

“You thought you could outrun us,” the woman yelled at those standing on the wall. Stiles had his hand on his holster in an instant, and he saw Scott’s fingers flex as if he was ready to pop out his claws. There was a loud, collective growl from behind the woman and the man close at her horse’s hind, and through the crowd eyes flared a flurry of red, gold, blue, orange and many other colours associated with assorted supernatural creatures.

“We have no business with you,” Scott called back just as Noah joined them on the perch.

“You’ve harboured some people we dislike,” the woman replied, her voice level and calm but the threat behind her words were clear, “you will not avoid us,”

“Who are you?” Stiles called. Scott cast a glance over his shoulder, frowning at his friend.

“We are Legion,” she replied, letting go of the reins of her horse to gesture outwards at the people behind her, “and we are many,”

“Is this it?” Stiles gestured to the crowd, “we were expecting more,”

“Oh you’ll get more, eventually,” the woman nodded, putting her hands back on her reigns.

“What do we call you?” Scott asked her directly.

“My name is Ida,” She replied simply, “and you are not to leave,”

“What’s stopping us? We are not your enemies,” Noah spoke up. Ida said nothing but smiled.

“Dad…” Stiles warned. Noah waved his son off, causing Stiles to sigh in frustration - nobody was listening to him!

“I have warned you,” Ida stated, “you will not leave, we will know,”

“And what happens if we do?” Scott called. Ida grinned.

“My hunters and their hounds will hunt you for sport, and your precious town will see the same fate as the other,” with that, Ida made a gesture with her hands and her people turned to leave. Ida lingered at the gates, watching Scott, Stiles, Derek, Noah and Rhea who stood on the wall armed. She turned moments later on her horse and cantered after her people.

* * *

“We need to find a way to leave,” Scott said when the council met later that day, accompanied by Stiles.

“No!” Stiles stood abruptly from where he sat on a table opposite the council stretch and slammed his hands on the table to illustrate his point, “you’re going to listen to me now,”

“Stiles-“ Scott began but Stiles shook his head and walked around the tabled to get closer to the council.

“We’ve got to work on fortifying this place,” Stiles said, “i’ll see if Malakai and his group were able to hide from Ida’s _Legion_ , but we need to fortify the walls, get more ammunition and weapons,”

“She said she’ll hunt us if we leave,” Yvonne pointed out.

“She was referring to the whole town, I don’t think she’ll care if just a few of us leave at any one time but we have to assume she’s watching all of us,” Stiles sighed, “Which is why if someone goes out, it’s one at a time or a small group, no more than four,”

“What do you suggest?” Noah sighed, “Stiles this is something bigger than last time,”

“I know,” Stiles nodded, “I’m fully aware of the threat, even if some aren’t,” he glanced to Scott, “we’re not leaving, we know that now. What we really need to do in addition to fortifying the walls is to make sure one building in this place is heavily guarded and built up so we can usher all the families, or at the very least the children if ever a fight came - which it will,” Stiles glanced around the room.

“We can’t fight them,” Chris spoke up for the first time since the meeting started.

“Do you know something we don’t?” Stiles turned to the older man and crossed his arms as he waited.

“Her real name is Idris Hannover, she comes from a primarily German hunting family who took up residence in southern California in the early nineteen-hundreds,” Chris said, “they had alliances with many hunting families, including mine and the Calavera’s,”

“Why can’t we fight them?” Stiles sighed, getting impatient.

“The Hannover’s were one of the first and only hunting families to break and use supernatural creatures to do their hunting. It’s an ancient practice for them, and they’ve perfected it, they likely have at least the size of Beacon Hills in supernatural creatures, and with plenty of supernatural on our side, we shouldn’t risk it,” Chris explained.

“Are you saying they could turn our wolves? Turn Lydia, turn Sasha?” Stiles frowned, furrowing his brows.

“Yes,” Chris nodded.

“Well shit,” Stiles groaned and rubbed his hand over his face, “It’s the fucking apocalypse and we’ve got to deal with this?”

“We should just go about our lives as if nothing happened,” Chris suggested, “if they come asking for something or someone we should comply,”

“So we can become slaves in our own homes? I don’t think so!” Stiles growled in anger, “I’m not going to sit on my knees and bow to our new hunter overlords, if you want to do that than be my guest, but I will not sit here and see _more people_ become slaves!”

“Stiles!” Noah exclaimed loudly, “how about you go and calm down, let us at the council discuss this matter further,” Stiles huffed but said nothing.

When he got to the house after taking a walk around the town and maybe shooting a thing or two, Lydia met him with a sad smile and a sigh. Stiles said nothing as he sat down on the old couch they had in their living room. Lydia sat next to him and rubbed his tense shoulders. Stiles bent down to pick up a bottle of whiskey that still had some left in it after his spiral the night before and downed it all in one gulp.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Lydia sighed, “it’s isn’t helping anything,”

“I know,” Stiles nodded, “but it numbs the feelings a little bit,” Lydia frowned.

“What did they say?” She asked and Stiles groaned.

"We can’t fight them, Chris thinks we should just lay down like a slave and let them walk all over us,” He said and she frowned, “he knows her, says her name is Idris Hannover, but she obviously prefers Ida,”

“And the Legion?” Lydia asked and Stiles shrugged.

“Something she’s formed after the world ended using her families techniques to subdue and train supernatural creatures,” he sighed. He debated on whether or not he should tell her about the possibility of Ida using Lydia herself, and other supernaturals, against the town, but he wasn’t sure how that would go down so he kept it to himself for the time being.

“So what do we do?” Lydia asked.

“Nothing, except wait,” Stiles sighed, “let’s see how this plays out, what do you think?”

“I think you’ve had better plans than this,” she deadpanned.

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, “but we’ve never been faced with something so big before,” he told her, “for now, I’m not going to get on my knees every time they come, but I won’t antagonise them either,”

“Smart,” Lydia sighed, “I guess. What else can we do?”

“Exactly,” Stiles nodded, “what else can we do,”

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note:**

> Now, I was originally going to spend another couple thousand words drawing this one shot out to defeat Ida and her Legion, HOWEVER I have decided to make this story a direct prequel to A NEW MULTI CHAPTERED FIC to start later in the year (I need a lot of time to plan y'all) so, this fit and the last one have set up some major players. Malakai and his pack are important, and you'll find out their fate in the next fic. But also Eden's people with Cora and Harrison and Dalton and many more you'll get to meet. Also, where is Emma? Plenty of storylines for you guys to find out.
> 
> SO FOLLOW MY PROFILE TO GET NOTIFICATIONS ON MY FICS, AND WATCH OUT FOR:
> 
> LOST HEROES: LEGION (name may change lol)


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